SHORT REPORT ON LONDON AND ITS MULTICULTURALISM
London is one of the biggest multilingual cities in the world. There are around 250-300 Languages are spoken in London; nevertheless this fact is undervalued or ignored by many businesses. Recent Research has illustrated that people in the capital are passionate for their languages. Londoners are more and more interested in learning new languages and now there are more languages spoken in the Capital, than anywhere else in UK. In last ten years London gained a lot from a continuously grooving pool of multilingual individuals from an ever more diverse range of countries.
Competition in the Industry is extreme not only in London but within whole UK. The languages pool of London’s population represents a rich, mainly untouched source for investment. Language and cultural skills offered by our capital can make a big divergence in competitive advantage. Absolute Interpreting and Translations Limited aims to harness the skills that our capital city can offer, in order to maintain its competitive edge and internationally recognised reputation, as well as in order to support the language and cultural needs of our public and other stakeholders the Company continually embraces multiculturalism and multilingualism not only in London but across the UK by providing professional and qualified interpreters and translators in London.
Nevertheless, London itself represents a huge market for an investment. Success of London Olympics 2012 has illustrated that London is still one on of the main destination of the Tourism worldwide. Despite the economic recession London already welcomes around 14 million international guests every year. Researchers suggest that London expecting an increase in number of visitors year by year from within the EU as well as other countries.
Demand for the professional interpreting and translations services within London is huge. Different business sectors, diverse communities, different boroughs of London all have dissimilar needs. With around 100 resident communities within London It is an immense challenge for the Public Services and Local governments. According to the Office National statistics two out of five adults in the capital do not have English as their native tongue. Also recent survey by BBC showed that half of businesses are presently hiring some people exclusively for their foreign language skills, and almost all of senior manager’s value bilingual ability. The languages that are most in demand in London are: Mandarin and Cantonese, French, German, Hindi and Urdu, Italian, Japanese, Arabic, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish.
Absolute interpreting and Translations Ltd are proud that the Company employs local talents in order to meet increasing demand of the capital. Although Public Services and Local Government Organisations are the main customers to focus on, one should not undermine the investment potential in Private Sectors. Internet survey has illustrated that private businesses conduct more and more international transactions in their Customer’s language. Translation and interpreting services are valuable for them. Same survey suggests that key sectors for investment could be: Financial and Business Services, Communication Companies, Environmental Technologies, Creative Industries, leisure and hospitality sector as well as Construction industry.
Report written and prepared by Fetrat Naser (Absolute Interpreting and Translations Ltd) ( 15/09/2012)
